"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
He’d followed her with a hunger he’d never known before. A craving for acceptance, for love, for unconditional happiness. All this time and it had been here - waiting for him to realize it. He’d spent his hours devoted to the Dale until he found himself wearing a title, holding a trait, and finding his bloodline, but it still hadn’t been enough. Years wasted while he clung to something that could never be his. But a man - a real man - knows when he has met his equal, and Shatter was that in every sense of the word.
They were truly each other’s match: Her kindness and compassion to match his brooding discontent, her words to fill the space with his silence, her water against his fire. They’d made one perfectly wonderful daughter, and another one was quickly on the way. Tiberios smiles to himself at the thought, following closely by her side while letting his nose drift softly against her rounding belly. He’d come back to a bright future.
When they reach the outskirts of the Falls he takes the land in with soft wonder. He’d been here before, long ago, but it seemed all so new to him again. There’s a pressing urge in his chest too, a need to see Tyrna. She’d been a young woman the last he’d seen her, no doubt she was a full-fledged mare now. Tiberios inhales deeply, smiling at the thought of this being his final home. With the tilt of his bronze eyes he gazes at Shatter, waiting for her move. This was, after all, her domain.
The trip home from the meadow was peaceful and sweet. They took their time, filling the space with hushed words and gentle caresses. Shatter was exactly where she needed to be. There had always been something missing for her. She came to Beqanna to find a new home. She joined the Falls to give herself purpose. She had followed a blood moon, danced with her demons, and come out stronger on the other side. But nothing compared to the hole that had been left when she met the man that had turned her world upside down.
When they had first met she was naive and romantic, certain that he was her one. Through it all, even though she had grown older and wiser, that hadn't changed. She watched him walk away time and again, listened as he told her he loved someone else, bore their child alone in the dark, and spiraled quickly to the darkest pits inside herself. Still she held out hope. How could anyone else possibly compare to the handsome and achingly sweet Tiberios? The man who set her heart aflame.
As they break through the foliage, she can't help but smile at his reaction. Tiberios seems a man renewed, and she is so happy that she was able to provide this for him. The waterfall itself is still weakened from all that it had been through in these last few years, but still radiated peace and power. The plants and animals were on their way to recovery as well. After the drought, most of the critters that her daughter had lovingly terrorized had disappeared, and were only now coming out of hiding.
Thinking of Tyrna was bittersweet for the silver queen, and she wondered how Tiberios would react when he realized how far their beautiful child had fallen. Tyrna was still their sweet little girl deep down, but something had changed her. Shatter would talk to him about it eventually, but right now they had some catching up to do.
"Welcome home, my love." She whispers softly in his ear as she presses a tender kiss upon his cheek.
Tiberios
